A senior PSNI officer has called for speeding “madness” to stop after someone was clocked doing 125mph.

Superintendent Sean Wright, District Commander for Lisburn and Castlereagh City, spoke out in the wake of the driver being caught on the M1.

Details of the speeds some people were driving at in the area, which includes a large section of the motorway, emerged via a Freedom of Information request.

The driver has now been dealt with in the courts.

Supt Wright added: “Information released to the public this week shows that the highest illegal speed reached by a motorist in this district in the last financial year was 125mph. As District Commander for Lisburn and Castlereagh City, I am astonished by the flagrant disregard that some motorists continue to demonstrate. Some people simply refuse to listen to the sound advice that is given.

“In the above instance the driver of a high performance saloon car was stopped on the M1 in Lisburn by colleagues in the Roads Policing Unit after recording this frankly ridiculous speed. In my view, this driver showed absolutely no regard to his own safety, or the safety of other road users. When he was brought to court, he was banned from driving for six months and fined hundreds of pounds.”

The PSNI chief added that “sadly, our records show he was not the only motorist with a callous disregard for safety”.

He said: “The next highest recorded speed is 115mph on the M1 at Moira, then we detected 112mph again on the M1 at Lisburn, 110mph on the M1 at Sprucefield followed by 108mph in the same place. We also detected 107mph on the A1 at Dromore. Motorcyclists were caught too - one on a 600cc sportsbike was detected at 103mph.

“I’m sure you will agree that this is madness. Can you imagine a tyre blowing out at that speed? The thought of losing control of your vehicle at legal speeds is frightening enough but can you imagine what could happen at 125mph?

“The results of a recent study suggest that the financial cost of one person dying due to a collision is estimated at well over a million pounds, including ambulance costs, other medical costs including wages and fees, and loss of earnings to victims’ families calculated over a number of years. However I would ask speeding motorists - What do you think the cost of a human life is?

"Can you put a price on what one member of a family is worth to their mother, father, siblings, and friends? All motorists be warned. Police officers are patrolling all of the roads in this district and as we have shown, if you use excess speed, you will be caught.”

It is understood the driver doing 125mph was caught in June 2014, and was dealt with by the courts the following October. However, the FoI request was published within the last few days.